NOVEL WEB Chapter 370 Seems Like One Chapter Was Missed
[He originally wanted to throw away the hairpin in his hand, but it wasn't long before he saw the Park Director walking towards this side.]
[How can you be slacking off during work hours? Even if there are no visitors, you should be working properly as long as your shift isn't over!" The Park Director woke him up with these words. He responded meekly, but in his mind, he was thinking of another way to handle it.]
[All he needed was a chance for contact.]
...
An out-of-place white pearl, no matter how conspicuous, was something they could not definitively determine the significance of, for the moment.
So far, the clues the three had found were: the murder was premeditated, the victim died before five o'clock, a large-sized sports jacket possibly left by the murderer, the murderer's and the victim's strength were similar, the victim might have been cheating, and the seemingly significant white pearl.
Given the premeditated nature of the murder, it was almost certain that the murderer was well-acquainted with the amusement park's surveillance and the layout inside the Haunted House.
All six of them were suspects, but the amusement park staff were even more so.
As for the remaining clues, sometimes they could rule out a few people, but other times they could include those same individuals—overall, it was an intricate mess that was hard to untangle.
The murderer had hidden too well, or rather, had made extremely thorough preparations, essentially leaving no traces of themselves.
Even the possible skin tissue scratched off under the victim's fingernails was missing!
No wonder the case hadn't been solved, driving the mysterious person to the brink of madness, tying up the six of them in the amusement park, forcing them to solve the case themselves.
How was the investigation going on the mysterious person's end?
The three of them lingered reluctantly around the victim for a long while until a female visitor expressed that the Haunted House seemed to be getting colder. Fearing that delay might bring about change, they decided to continue walking towards the back.
Passing the zombie model pile, the exhibits behind reverted to the usual plasticky horror props—probably, the most thrilling and most expensive part of the Haunted House was the zombie section with the big arc.
The side door of the Haunted House was at the latter half of the path, at the last turn of the M-shaped corridor.
Old and blood-stained burlap hung on the wall, adorned with bizarre sacrificial patterns, and even a few bleeding skulls dangling from it, emitting an unpleasant odor.
With such effort put into decoration, it's likely visitors wouldn't lift this piece of burlap out of curiosity.
Those who would lift it were overly curious.
Behind the burlap was a locked wooden door. At this location, pushing open the wooden door should lead to the rear side of the Haunted House building.
But the wooden door was locked.
"The victim was the ticket seller and also the administrator of the Haunted House. She often came in to check on the facilities, so she should have had a key," the male security guard said.
"Did you find the keys earlier?" Xu Shuo was the first to ask the two.
Both shook their heads simultaneously.
They had flipped through the site of the death for nearly half an hour, picking up scattered pink pearls on the ground, and still hadn't found any keys or such objects.
Xu Shuo pondered, "Maybe the murderer arranged to meet with the victim inside the Haunted House. The victim entered first after unlocking the door, then the murderer killed her and took away the key to lock the door again, perhaps to create the illusion that this door was never opened."
The male security guard agreed with him again, "Exactly, that's what I think as well!"
Suddenly, the two exchanged a knowing look, seemingly finding common ground, while the female visitor by their side added a hollow echo of agreement.
No matter their conjectures, the side door was not something they could open for inspection or escape. Bumping into this door felt just like bumping into the entrance door—as if hitting a solid wall.
Now, the three of them stood in the last stretch of the M-shaped passage, a dozen meters away from the exit.
The exit also had a ninety-degree turn, designed to block the view of visitors peeking inside, so at this moment, they couldn't see the door either.
They hesitated, questioning whether they could get out?
And whether this section of the path contained any traps?
After all, it was the last stretch.
"Let's keep the same positions as before. I'll go in the front to prevent any accidents, and each person will pass through with a two-meter gap in between," Xu Shuo said to the other two.
"Be careful," the female visitor responded.
"Let's use something to probe the way first," the male security guard suggested.
Xu Shuo nodded and casually snapped off the plastic head of a nearby demon prop, then bent down and tossed it toward the ground in front of him.
The head rolled to the middle of the corridor, not setting off any strange traps.
Monster props along this path emitted various growling sounds, and there was even a crude jail made of iron bars ahead with a beast-like monster caged inside, its claw reaching out.
That claw nearly touched the middle of the path, and generally, timid visitors would stick close to the inside wall to edge past it.
Brave visitors would smack the outstretched claw away with a slap.
Xu Shuo stepped forward, picked up the demon's head from the ground, and while at it, he snapped off the reaching beast's claw, then turned back to the two people and said, "Should be fine now, come on over."
The female tourist: "..."
She stepped forward, following behind the young man, while the male security guard at the rear glanced at the darkness behind him before also stepping forward to catch up.
The three maintained a distance of two meters between them, which would allow them to react without spatial constraints in case of an emergency.
The corridor wasn't long, and just a few steps away from a ninety-degree turn was the exit.
Unlike the wooden plank door at the entrance, the exit was only covered by a pair of closed sackcloth curtains, perhaps to facilitate the screaming visitors who wanted to run out without obstruction.
Xu Shuo weighed the demon's head in his hand, then, with a throwing gesture, he hurled it towards the curtains five meters away.
Whoosh— Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire
The demon's head flew through the closed curtains and out.
As the curtains were briefly lifted by the wind, sunlight from outside could be seen filtering in, along with the faint view of the amusement park's concrete ground.
"Looks like we can get out," Xu Shuo said, turning to look back at the other two.
Instantly, they both sighed in relief.
Actually, they weren't afraid of ghosts inside, they were just afraid they couldn't get out of this eerily strange haunted house.
...
...
At this moment outside the amusement park, another three people had also just arrived near the haunted house.
Although they were considered the most suspicious group, their desire to investigate the killer was in no way weaker, in fact, even stronger than the other group!
Because only by investigating could they clear their own suspicions.
Everyone who received the script felt they were innocent.
"They've been in there for almost an hour now, haven't they? They haven't come out yet?" The park director mused while looking at the haunted house structure.
"Seems like there really might be clues inside the haunted house; should we go in and check it out too?" one male tourist suggested.
He might be the member of the trio with the least psychological pressure, as his grouping was purely to separate him from the female tourist, and as long as she was clear and could vouch for him, his suspicion would also be reduced.
Upon hearing this, the ticket seller sarcastically said in a feeble, mocking tone, "Better not, if we go in, they might pin the murder on us even more."
The male tourist thought it made sense and said, "All right, then we'll talk after they come out."
As they were speaking, the haunted house's exit curtain suddenly shook, followed by something that flew out at great speed!
Bang!
The ticket seller was standing in front, and before she could react, the dark object smashed into her.
Then she instinctively held onto it.
On looking down, she was stupefied the next moment.
A pair of crimson, vicious eyes stared back at her, below which was a hideous, snarling face with sharp teeth protruding, some with suspicious red streaks that seemed to ooze a foul stench.
The ticket seller: "...0_0"
...